In this section of the site contributing authors submit interesting articles relating
to the various services, industries and research & development efforts of Becht.
Just the Facts Ma’am The famous phrase, “Just the facts, Ma’am,” was often linked to Los Angeles Police Department Sargent Joe Friday who wore badge 714 on the TV show Dragnet. However, according to several sources, the facts are Joe Friday never said this exact phrase on the long running TV show. The statement “Just […]
Contributing Authors – Dave Dewees (Becht) and Dr. Keith Kirkpatrick (McHale Performance) Reducing HRSG & Stack Pressure Drop to Improve Profitability Many operating Simple and Combined Cycle HRSG (Heat Recovery Steam Generator) ducts and stack exhaust system designs can be optimized to reduce pressure drop, improve combustion turbine backpressure, improve performance and increase revenue. CFD analysis […]
This blog is the first part of a 3-blog series. To view the rest of the story click HERE for Part 2 and Here for Part 3. Part 1: History Thirty years ago, Grade 91 (9Cr-1Mo-V) steel was hailed as the savior of the power generation industry [1]; now it’s behavior has been described as […]
Read Part 1 Part 2: Type IV Cracking and Inspectability The current concerns with Grade 91 are fundamentally and firmly rooted in inspectability of Type IV damage; while sensitivity of the material can be managed (see for example [1]), Type IV cracking is perhaps the Achilles heel of Grade 91. At a high level, the […]
Read Part 1 or Read Part 2 Part 3: Allowable Stresses While inspectability has been at the center of recent concerns, other issues such as chemistry control, ductility and excessive oxidation have also come under scrutiny. Perhaps most interesting is that while all of the preceding concerns have been debated, it has also been found […]
EPRI has just published the report “Roadmap to Integrity Evaluation and Repair of Nuclear Plant Piping” EPRI report number 3002013156, dated December 2018, prepared by Becht Nuclear Services, under EPRI Project Manager T. Eckert. The methods and criteria for the evaluation of degraded and non-conforming conditions in piping systems in nuclear power plants are dispersed […]
Critical Path Analysis, Schedule Optimization or Cold Eyes Review (call it what you want) are all designed to check your Turnaround (TA) Schedule for logic, manpower and equipment efficiencies that can affect the duration of the TA Schedule. When margins are high you can have unit-down-days that are worth upward of $1MM/day. For this type margin […]
“When You’re Stuck, You’re Stuck” Over years of normal operation – like cycling and wear and tear – High Energy Pipe support friction can increase causing distress in these critical systems. Friction is a common phenomenon which is widely understood and considered in both piping analysis and support design. Generally, a piping analyst models a […]
One of the major issues in designing large motor driven pump applications is minimizing the overhung weight on the pump rotor. Motor or gearbox drives are designed and sized independently of the driven unit. They are based on motor frame size and/or gearbox frame sizes and the drive component manufacturer has no information on the […]
Becht Engineering is pleased to welcome Bobby Wright to the Becht Engineering family. Bobby comes to Becht from Stress Engineering in Houston, TX and will be the Lead Technical Authority for BechtTechnicalSolutions. This position covers our multi-discipline services to offer unique solutions to our clients’ issues. Bobby has over 30 years of experience mobilizing teams providing […]
